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Hundreds of methane dunes nestle at the base of Pluto’s mountains

The formations offer a surprise on a body with such a thin atmosphere.
View of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.

Pale dunes (centre and right) on Pluto were formed by the dwarf planet’s winds, which reach up to 40 kilometres an hour. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Dramatic dunes of methane sweep across part of Pluto. The discovery shows that the dwarf planet’s atmosphere, although thin, can still generate winds powerful enough to blow particles across the surface.

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Nature 558, 9 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05320-9

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